Most Americans agree that the price of oil has skyrocketed! It is at a point where the average citizen has no choice but to incur the rise in price in their pocketbook, because for most of us our car is essential to our livelihood and heating in the wintertime is a must!

I have no doubt that great minds will find viable, alternative sources of energy in the future, and concede it is well worth the effort. We should reject, however, the idea that gas and oil is our enemy, and exploit the oil off and on American shores as soon as possible. Instead of paying foreign and sometimes rogue governments to import oil, we could invest those same funds in American companies and workers, and at the same time invest in alternative sources of energy.

Paul Werich writing at townhall.com in A Time to Drill on July 8, 2008, makes the following observation:

[O]ne exploration expert on Fox News Channel said that if the right equipment were available it would take only one year to get the first oil since the oil companies know exactly where the oil is located in the outer Continental Shelf. One oil shale expert told proponents of drilling in the House of Representatives that the first 800 million barrels of oil from shale could be available in two or three years. The remaining estimated two trillion barrels of oil from shale would take longer to have ready because they would be more difficult to extricate. But the initial 800 million barrels would help the U.S. economy.

Many Democrats counter that oil companies should drill on the 86 million acres it already leases from the U.S. government. Mr. Werich continues:

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who used to be in the oil business, said the reason oil companies are not drilling on the 86 million acres is that there is no substantial oil available on those lands to make drilling economically viable.

For all of the above reasons, I completely support drilling at ANWR and urge the Congress and the President to lift the ban. Experts believe that there is a significant amount of oil there, enough to strengthen our economy and loosen our dependency on foreign oil. The area that is being sought for exploration is just 8% of the Northern coast of ANWR. The remaining 92% or 17.5 million acres of ANWR would remain off limits for exploration.

So what is Congress waiting for? I am not sure frankly, but I hope they come to their senses quickly, times a wasting, and I’m running out of change.